Re the Decree onThe Imposition of a Tax In Kind on Farmers[1]

Written:September 21, 1918Published:Main provisions in 1931 inLenin Miscellany XVIII; Remarks in 1945 inLenin Miscellany XXXV.

      Printed from the manuscript.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      2nd English Edition,

      Progress Publishers,1971,

      Moscow,Volume 42,

      pages107c-108.Translated:Bernard IsaacsTranscription\Markup:D. WaltersPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2003).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

Main Provisions of the Decree

Thedraft to be revised in 4 days as follows:

1)Apopular preamble(α)surplusesand equalisation(articles 17, 12 and others of the law on the socialisation of
   the

   land[2])(β)completeexpropriation of the bourgeoisieNB|||(γ) the rich peasant not to be expropriated, buttaxedequitably, heavily(δ)middlepeasants to be taxed lightly(ε)poorpeasants-not at all.2)Thedivision into poor (no taxes whatever), middle (very light
taxes) and. rich peasants to be incorporated in the law itself.3) %ofpoor to be fixed roughly at < 40%, middle peasants at <
20%.4)Taxeson middle peasants to be reducedconsiderably.5)RegionalSoviet organisations shall be entitled to raise the
question of changing the rates of taxation for the rich.6)Thepoor to have the right to receive part of the collected grain
(for food and seed).2Remarks On The Draft DecreeNB(1)Notall the 2 million are kulaks.(2)Arich peasant may be very prosperous, but not an exploiter,
etc.(3)Weexpropriate and confiscate in the case of the capitalists, but
not in the case of the rich peasant.(4)Confiscationto be applied to kulaks who revolt and offer
 resistance.Notes[1]Thequestion of introducing a tax in kind was raised by Lenin in his
“Theses on the Food Question” written on August 2, 1918 (see present
edition, Vol. 28, pp. 45-47). The draft decree for imposing a tax in kind
on the farmers was first introduced at a meeting of the C.P.C. on September
4. It was discussed again at a meeting of the C.P.C. on September 21. It
was probably during these meetings of the Council that Lenin jotted down
his “Main Provisions of the Decree” and his remarks on the draft. (For
Lenin’s documents connected with the drafting of the decree at this and
other meetings of the Council of People’s Commissarsnotes, calculations,
plan of a speech at the Council meetingsee alsoLenin Miscellany X
VIII,pp. 148-50.) The decree in its final form was adopted by the
C.P.C. on October 26, endorsedby the All-Russia Central Executive Committee
on October 30 and published inIzvestiaon November 14, 1918. The
extension of foreign military intervention and the civil war prevented this
measure from being implemented.Lenin’sprinciples for an income tax in kind drafted in
’1918 were elaborated and embodied in the food tax in the spring of 1921,
which marked the postwar transition to peaceful economic construction on
the basis of the New Economic Policy. The decree on the tax in kind adopted
in October 1918 was mentioned by Lenin in his report on the political work
of the C.C. at the Tenth Congress of the R.C.P.(B.), when dealing with the
question of replacing the surplus-appropriation system by a food tax (see
present edition, Vol. 32, p. 187)[2]Article12 of the “Basic Law on the Socialisation of the Land’
endorsed by the Third All-Russia Congress of Soviets on January 18 (31),
1918, and adopted at the session of the All-Russia Central Executive
Committee on January 27 (February 9) runs as follows: “The distribution of
land among the working people shall be carried out on an equalised labour
basis in such a manner that the subsistence and labour norm adapted in the
given area to the historically established system of land tenure should not
exceed the available manpower on each individual farm and at the same time
should allow the farmer’s family to make a fairly comfortable living.”
Article 17 of the Law says: “The surplus income derived from naturally
fertile superior plots as well as from their more advantageous location for
marketing, shall be placed at the disposal of the Soviet authorities to be
used for public needs”(Decrees of the Soviet Government,Vol. I,
Moscow, 1957, pp. 408-09).

(α)surplusesand equalisation(articles 17, 12 and others of the law on the socialisation of
   the

   land[2])(β)completeexpropriation of the bourgeoisieNB|||(γ) the rich peasant not to be expropriated, buttaxedequitably, heavily(δ)middlepeasants to be taxed lightly(ε)poorpeasants-not at all.

(α)surplusesand equalisation(articles 17, 12 and others of the law on the socialisation of
   the

   land[2])

(β)completeexpropriation of the bourgeoisie

NB|||(γ) the rich peasant not to be expropriated, buttaxedequitably, heavily

(δ)middlepeasants to be taxed lightly

(ε)poorpeasants-not at all.

2)Thedivision into poor (no taxes whatever), middle (very light
taxes) and. rich peasants to be incorporated in the law itself.

3) %ofpoor to be fixed roughly at < 40%, middle peasants at <
20%.

4)Taxeson middle peasants to be reducedconsiderably.

5)RegionalSoviet organisations shall be entitled to raise the
question of changing the rates of taxation for the rich.

6)Thepoor to have the right to receive part of the collected grain
(for food and seed).

Remarks On The Draft Decree

(1)Notall the 2 million are kulaks.

(2)Arich peasant may be very prosperous, but not an exploiter,
etc.

(3)Weexpropriate and confiscate in the case of the capitalists, but
not in the case of the rich peasant.

(4)Confiscationto be applied to kulaks who revolt and offer
 resistance.

[1]Thequestion of introducing a tax in kind was raised by Lenin in his
“Theses on the Food Question” written on August 2, 1918 (see present
edition, Vol. 28, pp. 45-47). The draft decree for imposing a tax in kind
on the farmers was first introduced at a meeting of the C.P.C. on September
4. It was discussed again at a meeting of the C.P.C. on September 21. It
was probably during these meetings of the Council that Lenin jotted down
his “Main Provisions of the Decree” and his remarks on the draft. (For
Lenin’s documents connected with the drafting of the decree at this and
other meetings of the Council of People’s Commissarsnotes, calculations,
plan of a speech at the Council meetingsee alsoLenin Miscellany X
VIII,pp. 148-50.) The decree in its final form was adopted by the
C.P.C. on October 26, endorsedby the All-Russia Central Executive Committee
on October 30 and published inIzvestiaon November 14, 1918. The
extension of foreign military intervention and the civil war prevented this
measure from being implemented.

Lenin’sprinciples for an income tax in kind drafted in
’1918 were elaborated and embodied in the food tax in the spring of 1921,
which marked the postwar transition to peaceful economic construction on
the basis of the New Economic Policy. The decree on the tax in kind adopted
in October 1918 was mentioned by Lenin in his report on the political work
of the C.C. at the Tenth Congress of the R.C.P.(B.), when dealing with the
question of replacing the surplus-appropriation system by a food tax (see
present edition, Vol. 32, p. 187)

[2]Article12 of the “Basic Law on the Socialisation of the Land’
endorsed by the Third All-Russia Congress of Soviets on January 18 (31),
1918, and adopted at the session of the All-Russia Central Executive
Committee on January 27 (February 9) runs as follows: “The distribution of
land among the working people shall be carried out on an equalised labour
basis in such a manner that the subsistence and labour norm adapted in the
given area to the historically established system of land tenure should not
exceed the available manpower on each individual farm and at the same time
should allow the farmer’s family to make a fairly comfortable living.”
Article 17 of the Law says: “The surplus income derived from naturally
fertile superior plots as well as from their more advantageous location for
marketing, shall be placed at the disposal of the Soviet authorities to be
used for public needs”(Decrees of the Soviet Government,Vol. I,
Moscow, 1957, pp. 408-09).